Up to Novell's takeover of the Suse Linux AG, KDE was without doubt the preferred default for the German distribution. Now openSUSE users are increasingly demanding the return of KDE as default desktop.

Using the openSUSE Feature Tracking System, (openFATE), members of the openSUSE community and openSUSE users can register their wishes regarding the next version of openSUSE and right now, what they want is KDE. Frank Karlitschek, newly elected board member by KDE, has now officially lodged the request.

The reasons for KDE as default are obvious: according to an openSUSE survey, around two-thirds of its users work with KDE as desktop. Also, openSUSE developers are traditionally strongly connected with KDE and SUSE has always had the reputation of being the best KDE distro. When Novell proposed Gnome as default for the Enterprise products, the negative echo in the community was loud and today this weak compromise still exists, with Gnome top of the list but with no desktop preselected.

That the situation, especially for new members, presents a considerable obstacle, and it's clear other distributions could easily do without making the selection, openSUSE should reinstate KDE as default and keep Gnome as the option, demands Karlitschek.

The discussion surrounding the default desktop, which could lead to an ungainly argument between Novell (Gnome advocates) and the community (KDE fans), has been joined by KDE developer Sebastian Kuegler. In his blog, Kuegler calls upon Novell to clarify their position and to end the biased status of Gnome (with an explanation from KDE developer Lubos Lunak). He ends his blog with these words:

"The numbers are clear, KDE is the preferred desktop of the openSUSE community. There is a formal request to reflect that in the installation process. Novell, and those with decision-making powers in the openSUSE team now have the opportunity to prove that features.opensuse.org is not just a lip-service, that the community does control the direction of openSUSE."

Comments

KopenSUSE, anyone

Maybe in the spirit of Kubuntu, someone needs to fork off a "KopenSUSE".

JD

Ondrej

JD, the proposal, if accepted, means the installation process will ask about your desktop preference and will offer you a default, like this:

[x] kde
[_] Gnome
[_] Other

It doesn't mean the DE configuration page should disappear from the installation process or that gnome , xfce or whatever should be ditched from the distribution.

The choice is still there, the proposal only wants the installation process to reflect the general OpenSUSE user preference and simplify the installation process for complete newbies (Don't know what? Just click next.)

I see nothing wrong with this.

KDE

JD

I do not mind if customers have a choice between the window managers. I really do not see a problem with the first comment. If everyone have a choice they can choose what they need or want. I am a KDE user, and I love KDE. But everyone should have a choice to use what they want. I do not want people to use KDE if they do not like it, and apparently there are plenty of them.

Choice will stay.

Ondrej

Drummer, the proposal means this:

[x] kde
[_] Gnome
[_] Other

not being unable to select at all. OK?

Waa, waa, waa

Drummer

Personally, I LIKE having a choice when I install OpenSuSE. I generally choose GNOME as the default for myself, but, depending upon the situation, I've chosen KDE as well, I wish they'd make THREE easy selections: GNOME, KDE (4), and XFCE, with "other" as a fourth selection. There are situations where I'd really love to have the selections that OpenSuSE offers, but would like the smaller footprint of XFCE as my desktop environment.

The KDE zealots (and if you've not read the postings, you won't know what I mean) really seem to want to toss GNOME out altogether. The major complaints seem to be that GNOME doesn't have as many adjustment "knobs" as KDE. For a LOT of folks, that's actually a good thing, especially if they're trying to move from Windows to Linux.

I'd rather see KDE, GNOME, and XFCE be listed together with a brief, UNBIASED description of the features that could help the first-time user choose one or another. For example, the often overlooked XFCE could be described as "a lightweight but fast desktop environment, well suited for older machines or those with less memory."

Come on, guys. You want to ENTICE everyone to try it, not scare them away. Just because YOU have had your epiphany with one desktop environment or another doesn't mean everyone has. AND, as you might recall, you can always go back and ADD the other DEs before or after installation.

Unfortunately you'l get gnome

FreeBooteR

As Microsoft's arm for poisoning GNU/Linux, Novell have put in much effort to stuff Gnome to the gills with mono. If they went KDE that would delay their plans and piss of their Microsoft masters.